Stress and a Newbie
by Icy Starr
Summary: Cuddy's stressed as usual. This stress rises when a new doctor shows up at Cuddy's door late at night, where she finds out that House hired her. Read to get more!
1. Chapter 1

Stress and a Newbie

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own House or anything else.**

**I am using cases from House when Cuddy says there's a case, but there isn't really a certain season. And BIG thanks to ****confusedsarcasm for helping me out A LOT with this fic. You should read hers! They're awesome! Definitely Huddy!**

-----

Early morning sunlight was creeping in through the windows in Dr. Lisa Cuddy's office. She had stayed at Princeton Plainsboro Teaching Hospital almost all night yesterday, getting home to get _some_ sleep before returning early in the morning to continue completing paperwork and dealing with Dr. Gregory House later in the day. She knew it would be a while before House strolled into his office, demanding coffee from one of his fellows, annoying a patient, or stealing food from Dr. James Wilson. It didn't really bother her that much; it became something like a routine for her. Of course, she did get a bit angry when House did these things, especially when she had a patient's family member coming to her because of something he said or did. She had to shudder in spite of herself, remembering some of the really bad things House had done, like breaking an MRI machine. She had to make sure House was doing his clinic duty every now and then, and not playing his Gameboy sometimes as well, but that was normal, and nothing to get overly upset about.

Cuddy sighed and put down her pen, tired of doing any more paperwork. She stood up from her desk, using her hands to push herself up. She walked to the door, heels clicking on the floor as she did so. She walked out of the room into the clinic, getting friendly glances from a few of the nurses and doctors in the clinic that looked up from the nurse's station, or were exiting patient's rooms. She grinned back politely, and then exited the clinic without speaking to anybody. The only thing she was carrying with her was a case file for House. She walked to House's room and opened the door, not bothering to look into the glass windows to see what he was doing at that moment. "New case." She said simply, handing the file to House, not acknowledging House's three fellows that were sitting at the brainstorming table, or the computer in one fellow's case, and doing various things.

Allison Cameron, one of House's fellows was sitting at the computer, finishing checking the mail. Eric Foreman was sitting with his hands folded, occasionally giving words to Robert Chase, who was doing a crossword puzzle. Chase was sitting at the brainstorming table, the eraser part of his pencil on his chin, staring at the crossword puzzle with concentration. Foreman was the only one who noticed Cuddy entering the room, but he didn't look up from where he was staring at the table.

House didn't look up from the tennis ball, and continued throwing it and catching it. Cuddy continued on anyway, knowing House would listen, throwing in a remark a few times before something sparked his interest and he took the file, hobbling over to the white board, talking about the case as he went. "Ten year old boy who thinks he has been cursed." Cuddy said, continuing on about the case for a minute.

"Boring!" House said. "This means that they are donors to the hospital, or you're having wild sex with the dad." House grinned as Cuddy rolled her eyes and plopped the file onto House's desk.

"Take the damn case." Cuddy said, looking at House sincerely.

"But mommy! I don't want to! I can probably diagnose this in ten minutes, and then I would have wasted ten minutes on solving the case, and then an hour or two having Cameron and Chase run tests to confirm, while having Foreman check the house to make sure I wasn't wrong. Then I would have to have somebody deal with the parent's whining and stupid questions about their son for a half an hour. By the time I would be done I'd have wasted about an hour and forty minutes! Of course, if I don't run tests and just treat him right away, I could save an hour or two. But then I'd get yelled at by you if it is wrong because I didn't do any tests to confirm. I'd get more clinic hours which would waste even more time. But if I didn't run tests, I wouldn't have to ask you if I can do anything extremely risky so I can get a diagnosis, which would waste your time, especially if you want to talk me out of it and-"House was rambling on, hoping that his confusing explanations would get him out of a potentially boring case.

"Well then, after that hour and forty five minutes, you can go back to playing with your tennis ball. You're going to take the case." Cuddy said, turning on her heels and walking out the door.

"What's got her panties in a knot?" House mumbled to himself as he walked up to the whiteboard and started the procedures needed to diagnose a patient.

-----

Cuddy was exhausted and a bit stressed under the recent load of paperwork that she had to do. She had made a quick decision that she was going to get a decent amount of sleep today to reduce the exhaustion and maybe some of the stress. She would be a bit happier tomorrow anyway, for she had managed to get the paperwork down to a normal amount. Maybe she'd finish by this evening so she wouldn't have even the tiniest amount of extra paperwork to do tomorrow. She was stopped for the moment, for she had heard the growling of her stomach and decided to get up and not skip lunch for a change. She'd have a salad, something fast that would dull her hunger until she got home to eat dinner. She slowly got up; putting her paperwork onto one side of the desk instead of the clutter she had at that moment, leaving the piece that she was working on the top of the pile she had made for herself. After that, she took one last glance at the paperwork and walked out of her office, heels clicking on the floor on the way to the cafeteria. She bought her salad and retreated back to her office, eating it in silence.

After throwing away her lunch, she grabbed the piece of paper she was working on and put it in front of her, but soon dropped her pen, something popping into her mind. She stood up, quickly this time, and walked out of the room again, deserting her paperwork.

The door closed and House looked up from his desk to see Cuddy entering the room. She walked up to his desk and placed her hands on it, a grin on her face. "Finish the case yet?"

"Nope." House said, looking at Cuddy, not bothering to stand up.

"So, apparently you were wrong when you said it would take an hour and forty minutes to do." Cuddy had a devious grin on her face.

"I was wrong, but we have a lead. So, everybody is with the patient, trying to prove it."

At that moment, Cameron walked in, followed by everybody else. "It's Leprosy." Cameron said.

"I'm done now mommy." House said, looking up at Cuddy, who just grinned and walked out of the room, back to hers to finish what was left of her paperwork of the day.

-----

Cuddy walked out late at night, having been busy. She was exhausted, and just wanted to get to bed. The air cold, though it was only fall. When she reached her home, she groggily unlocked her door and walked in, placing her things carefully down on the table, for she would need them tomorrow. She walked into her room, quickly changing into her pajamas. She was about to walk to her bed, but stopped, hearing a noise coming from outside. She walked to the window, looking out to see House. She gasped, opening her window. "House! What the hell are you doing here? How long have you been here?"

"Oh, I've been here since 8:30." House said. "Can I come in? It is kind of cold in here, and you don't want to have your favorite doctor getting sick, do you?"

Cuddy groaned. "Fine, come in." Cuddy said, grabbing her robe and putting it on before walking to the door to let House in. "By the way, you never told me why you're here."

"No reason." House said, walking in.

"So, basically you wanted to check up on me in the middle of the night because you wanted to." Cuddy said, crossing her arms.

"Well, I guess you could put it that way." House said. Cuddy rolled her eyes and groaned once more.

"House, I'm tired. I want to go to bed. I got up early this morning and didn't get much sleep. Unless you have something important to tell me, can you _please _go _home_?"

"Aw Cuddy! You always ruin the fun!" House said in a whiney, three-year-old voice.

Cuddy mumbled something under her breath before walking over to stand next to House. "Please, just go. You can visit me in my office tomorrow." Cuddy then walked to the door and opened it, waiting for him to leave. When he wouldn't budge she sighed. "What?" She shut the door with a slight slam.

"Just wanted to get a last glimpse of what you were wearing. You know, those pajamas really compliment your breasts." House said, watching as Cuddy rolled her eyes.

A sudden knock on the door made Cuddy throw up her hands with a groan, wondering how many people wanted to visit her late at night. She opened the door then moved away from it to allow the guest to enter her home. "Um hello…" Cuddy said, not saying the person's name for lack of knowing it.

"Hi, I am a new doctor at Plainsboro, and have a few things to ask you about it." The doctor said.

"May I ask you your name?" Cuddy asked quietly.

"Vanessa Robertson." The woman replied. She had brown shoulder-length hair and green eyes. She also wore glasses. She was about Cuddy's height, and she looked pretty intelligent, but the fact that she went to a person's house late at night made her seem a bit less intelligent than she looked.

"Please sit down." Cuddy said, not really wanting to talk about the hospital at this time of night. The one night she actually gets home at a decent time and is able to sleep for more than a few hours, she is stuck talking about the hospital, the place she didn't have to go until morning, the place she had just left!

Dr. Robertson sat down at a chair. Cuddy sat down next to her without a word. "Who is going to be your boss?" Cuddy asked.

"Dr. House." Dr. Robertson replied, folding her hands on the table.

"House, since you are here, you can sit down and talk about Princeton Plainsboro." Dr. Cuddy said, a grin forming on her face.

"But mommy, she asked you!" House said in the childish tone he used so much.

Cuddy sighed and groaned. _'This is going to be a long night.'_ She thought.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next day, Cuddy wasn't as tired, having got a lot more sleep than she would have any other night. She had a feeling that today wouldn't be as bad as any other day, for she wouldn't be exhausted. She had just arrived at work and was walking down the hospital's familiar halls to get to her office. She was going to pass House's office on the way there. She wondered if Dr. Robertson was there, for she spent last night talking to her about the hospital with House. She spotted her walking down the hallway to her. "Hello." Cuddy said, watching her stop next to her. "Is everything alright?"

"House isn't here yet." Dr. Robertson replied, looking at Cuddy, who just chuckled and grinned some more.

"He's never here on time. That's something you'll have to get used to. He'll come in around ten, requesting coffee. It's something he does every day." Cuddy said.

"And you don't do anything about it?" Dr. Robertson asked.

"It wouldn't make much of a difference. He'd still come late unless I go to his apartment and drag him here." Cuddy said.

"Okay." Dr. Robertson said, walking the other way so she could get back to the office. Cuddy followed, needing to go that way to get to her office anyway.

The door to Cuddy's office closed behind her as she placed her things down in their proper places and turned on the light. She didn't have any paperwork as of yet, so she had a bit less to do, which made her smile. After having as much paperwork as she did two days ago, having nothing felt like Heaven. Even if she got some later, she would have done a lot of her other daily activities, so she could just do her work without having to get up to walk around the hospital to make sure everything was in order. It probably would be, but there were always people wanting to tell her something, and she needed to listen to what these people have to say, especially if it was about something pertaining to the hospital, so everything could remain orderly and peaceful. The hospital hadn't become chaotic in a long time, which made Cuddy feel proud that she could maintain calmness when she was extremely tired. After sitting down for a moment, she got up and walked out of her office to start her rounds. After finishing those, she walked to House's office.

"Mommy! I just finished a case! I don't want to do another one already!" House said as soon as the door closed behind Cuddy.

"Don't worry, there's no case House." Cuddy said with a grin. She walked over to House's desk and stood there.

"Then why are you here?" House asked, using what Cuddy said last night.

"No reason…" Cuddy said with a smile.

House shook his head. "There's always a reason." He said, shaking his head. "So, what is it?" He looked at Cuddy, just waiting.

"I'm just seeing how things are going with Dr. Robertson." Cuddy said. House shook his head.

"She makes good coffee." House said. "Much better than Cameron's." He nodded, holding up the red mug he always drank his coffee in.

"I'm glad you are enjoying that…" Cuddy said with a small smile. "You can't function without your coffee in the morning…" House just shook his head.

"By the way, you have clinic duty. Enjoy coffee later. You need to do clinic duty…" Cuddy told House.

"But I already have my fellows doing that. They _are_ gaining experience with clinic patients. Besides, who wants to tell people they have allergies or a cold all the time? Now, maybe if somebody came in with something interesting, I would do it. But people these days are stupid. They come in with the sniffles and think they are dying of cancer. Now, if these sniffles turned into anything serious, I would be down there as fast as a cripple could... Okay, maybe not, but if I was interested, I would take the case." House said.

Cuddy sighed. "House, do your clinic duty, now." House shook his head.

"Robertson hasn't been to the clinic before, she is gaining experience."

Cuddy walked to the door. "Do it. Get it done before I get out of my meeting or you will have to do today's hours tomorrow. Robertson isn't your maid." She left after she said this, somehow knowing House wouldn't get up.

'_Nobody will tell, unless Robertson is stupid enough." _House thought.

-- 

"Dr .Cuddy!" Cuddy turned to see who had called her. Robertson. "House didn't do his clinic duty. I had to do it for him…" she was clearly agitated about this.

"I figured that." Cuddy said, shaking her head. "He rarely does unless somebody nags him… I will go do that."

"And he does this _often_?" Robertson asked. Cuddy noticed now that Robertson was the type of person who thought rules had to be followed. Well, yes, they did. She could agree. However, Robertson seemed to get… annoying with it.

"Yes." Cuddy said with a nod.

"And you _accept _it?" Robertson asked, crossing her arms. For some reason she was getting on Cuddy's nerves. Maybe it was the fact she was getting yelled at from one of her employee's fellows. Or maybe it was because the meeting left her agitated. Was it both?

"I… will talk… to him…" Cuddy muttered, walking to her office to deposit her things into it in its proper place. She'd talk to him in a few minutes. She had paperwork now, and it wasn't too serious of an incident. It could be fixed. Like she had told House before, she'd give him two more hours if he didn't do his own clinic duty.

--

Robertson stood where she was for a few moments, wondering why Cuddy didn't seem to care. That wasn't like somebody who was the Dean of Medicine. She then blinked, walking to House's office. Clinic duty wasn't done yet. It had only been about half an hour. Oh well.

A few moments later, Robertson entered House's office, door closing behind her. House was… sleeping? There was quite a few things wrong with that. "House." She said, trying to get him to wake up.

"Done already? It has only been… thirty minutes. That is not an hour. An hour is sixty minutes. Do you know how to tell time?" House said, sitting up in his desk, looking at Robertson.

"Do your own damn clinic duty." Robertson muttered, sitting herself down. House raised his eyebrow.

"Hmm. I don't want to. I don't like dealing with six year olds with runny noses. It is boring." House said, shrugging.

"But it isn't my clinic duty, so why do I have to do it?" Robertson asked.

"Do you have anything better to do right now? Any meetings to go to, paperwork to do, hot sex to have?" House asked.

Robertson crossed her arms once more. "No." she muttered, giving House a slight glare.

"Then you can go occupy yourself in the clinic. You would be treating patients. That is always fun. Who knows, maybe something interesting will happen." House said.

"But it isn't my responsibility, it is yours." Robertson said, shaking her head. She hadn't realized the door had closed. House was only giving Robertson half his attention. Cuddy was standing in the doorway, listening, not making a sound. "And, why do you sleep in your office? You should do that at home if you are that tired." She continued.

That was when Cuddy decided to step in. Apparently this _was _the reason Robertson was getting on her nerves, adding a bit extra stress that she didn't need. "I can handle disciplining my own employee." She said, looking down at Robertson, an agitated look on her face.

"Just trying to help." Robertson said, getting up, trying to make a quick exit. Cuddy stopped her by gently reaching out and grabbing her shoulder.

"Stay for a minute. Disciplining House isn't your job. It is mine. You worry about yourself. Now, if you become the head of the department, Dean of Medicine, or anything else, you can worry about your employees. But right now, you are not the dean of medicine or the head of a department. So, you don't have to worry about everybody. I do. Dr. House does. Leave the disciplining to us please. Okay?" Cuddy said.

"Okay." Robertson said.

"Now go." Cuddy said, letting go of her shoulder. Robertson immediately left.

"That's why she agitates me…" Cuddy muttered so only she could hear. She had a feeling this would be a long day.

**AUTHOR: I FEEL REALLY BAD! I haven't updated this in a while. PLEASE review! Criticism in any form, whether what you have to say is good or bad, is appreciated. Thanks! ******


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**AUTHOR: Again I shall apologize for not updating as much as I want. I will TRY one at least once a month…**

--

"So Cuddy, Robertson giving you a hard time?" House asked with a smirk. He was enjoying this. Cuddy shrugged, looking up from her desk. House had just rudely barged into her office, like always. She'd gotten used to it. "Seriously Cuddy!" House said when Cuddy didn't really reply. "The woman's trying to order the Dean of Medicine around! Doesn't that make you angry or something?"

"I guess… She's just new here and trying to fit in…It will fix itself over time…" Cuddy mumbled, placing her pen down and looking up from a paper to see House as he spoke. She watched as she rolled his eyes.

"Oh come on Cuddy! You have emotions. I know they are there…" House said. He recalled Cuddy having feelings, last time he checked. No human was incapable of them…

"Okay…I guess she did make me a bit angry… You do behave…well, the best you can..."Cuddy said with a nod, standing up.

"She isn't…raising your stress level or anything?" House asked. He was clearly digging for an answer from Cuddy.

"I guess a little bit, but it's nothing I can't handle…" Cuddy said, remaining calm about all this. "Now, Wilson might have a more interesting story to tell you. Go see him…" She had work to do, and wanted to get it done before tomorrow, so she couldn't really waste time, unless it was completely necessary.

"Fine, fine…" House muttered, hobbling out.

_'Wow, I didn't think he'd listen…'_ Cuddy thought. House usually persisted. What she had just told House wasn't completely the truth, but wasn't a total lie. Robertson DID make her agitated…sometimes, and she DID raise her stress level a bit, when she was going around trying to tell her what to do, but it couldn't be helped. It would probably stop, right?

She sighed, sitting herself back down. She had more paperwork that she just got, and then she'd probably check up on how the hospital was doing. Well, back to work…

--

"Hey Jimmy!" House said as he opened the door of Wilson's room that he'd forgot to lock. He was with a patient, too.

"With a patient…" Wilson muttered, eyes still focused on the patient, who had his eyes focused on House.

"Who's that?" The patient asked. This man didn't look like a doctor. He wasn't wearing a lab coat, and still had stubble adorning his chin. He walked with a cane… Well, looks can be deceiving.

"It's alright, Margaret, it is just a doctor who doesn't know how to knock before entering a room…" Wilson said, looking at House. "Can it wait?" he asked.

"Is she dying?" House asked, saying a line he had used many times before. He wanted to talk to Wilson.

"No, but-"Wilson began, but was cut off by House.

"Then she can wait…" House said, as if he were attempting to finish Wilson's sentence, though Wilson wanted HOUSE to wait.

"I can leave, if you want me to." Margaret said, clutching her purse, which had fallen to the floor. Wilson shook his head and sighed, giving a slight glare to House.

"That's okay, Margaret. House, we're about finished here. Come back in five minutes…" Wilson muttered.

House exited, but was really just waiting outside in the hall…for five minutes…

--

FIVE MINUTES LATER…

House watched Margaret leave Wilson's office and took it as a cue to enter. He took the seat that Margaret had just vacated, still holding his cane with one hand even though he was sitting so there was no risk of falling.

"So, what is so important that you have to tell me?" Wilson asked, closing his hands and placing them on his table where there weren't any papers and knickknacks from some of his younger patients.

"Well first I want you to get me lunch, so come on." House said, standing once more, Wilson following.

"So, you came all the way here and interrupted me to ask me to buy you lunch?" Wilson asked, shaking his head. House then shook his own head, saying no.

"Nope. I actually have some things to tell you that you may find interesting." House said as he walked through the hallway with Wilson.

When House was silent, Wilson made a hand motion indicating that he should continue. "Well are you going to tell me sometime today?" he asked, waiting for a response.

"Yeah." House muttered simply.

"When?" Wilson asked.

"After you buy me my lunch." House replied, entering the doors of the cafeteria, followed closely by Wilson, who rolled his eyes.

"Fine, get your sandwich..."Wilson muttered, waiting as House got in line, picking out his sandwich with NO PICKLES, then a drink. Wilson handed House the money and walked to a table where they could discuss…whatever. House sat down at the table a moment later, dropping the change onto the table, which Wilson picked up and shoved into his pants pocket. "Are you going to tell me now?" He asked after House took a large bite of his Reuben. He nodded as he chewed. Wilson heard a muffled "Yeah." He waited for House to swallow.

"Cuddy's stressed…"House muttered.

"Cuddy's always busy, making her stressed. She also gets out of here late, which makes her get less hours of sleep, which adds to the stress. This is news how?" Wilson stated, wondering what the big deal was.

"Well this time it is one of my fellows…"House added, making Wilson a bit more curious as to what was happening.

"Which one?" Wilson asked, trying not to show the curiosity in his voice.

"Robertson." House replied.

"The new one?" Wilson asked. House nodded. "What did she do?"

"It all started out when Robertson visited Cuddy late one night. I was there, I know." House began. He knew Wilson would ask why he was there later. "And now she is trying to get Cuddy to make me obey the rules, which includes doing clinic duty, which I haven't done yet today, and coming to work on time…" He continued.

"Wow, somebody actually caring what you do, that's TERRIBLE." Wilson said sarcastically.

"Well, she even voiced her concerns to Cuddy, and yelled at me in front of her. I never knew the employee yells at the employer…" House said, pretending to sound offended.

"I see…" Wilson muttered.

"Robertson thinks she can boss ME around!" House said with a nod.

Wilson stood up. "You and Cuddy are going to have your hands full with her then…" He muttered, walking away. He was going to be late for another patient's appointment…

House nodded after a moment, even though Wilson had already left. He was probably right. Now he wondered what would happen next…

**AUTHOR: Wow. Lots of dialogue. **


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

**AUTHOR: Hey. Yesterday, June 3****rd**** was my birthday. Reviews would be like gifts!**

House sat there at the table for quite some time after Wilson left, wondering why Robertson liked everything so perfect. This would be one of those puzzles that he liked to solve all the time, but he'd never admit it. As he thought he didn't touch his food even though he was quite hungry. Everybody had their faults, but most people also knew that nothing is perfect all the time, right? So, why would Robertson strive to perfect everything, including him? Was something going on at home that he should find out about? Of course, there's the fact that he could possibly use it as blackmail, but he wasn't THAT mean, was he? He noticed that Robertson was quiet most of the time and occasionally looked pretty upset. Every now and then she was lost in thought. These were signs that something was up in Robertson's world. House just couldn't figure it out though. There were pieces of this puzzle missing and he'd have to find them and put them in their proper places to get the big picture about what was going on. He'd definitely have to watch Robertson better to find out what it was. Until then poor Cuddy would be stressed out. Wait, she was always stressed, so she'd be more stressed. House was eventually snapped out of his thoughts because of a sudden pang of hunger deep in his stomach and a low growl that told him he should eat. He finished his meal in silence then grabbed up his cane and hobbled out of the cafeteria, heading toward his office where he knew that Robertson would probably be.

--

Robertson was staring into space at her spot at the table used for differentials, hand on forehead. The other one was lying on the desk. She was looking down at the table but it was as if it wasn't there. She was thinking, unaware that House would come barging in at any moment and eventually disturb the peace that was allowing her to think of everything going on. The whole room was silent because nobody else was in it. Everybody else was in the clinic, or in House's case, eating lunch. There was nobody there to disturb the tranquility. Nothing moved except for the movements seen when somebody like Robertson is breathing. She was in her own separate world away from this one and wasn't aware of what was around her. It was as if nobody was there at all. She didn't hear the door close or House's feet and cane hitting against the floor. Robertson didn't even know that he was there.

House glanced down at Robertson, trying to see if she was sleeping or something of that nature. She wasn't, seeing her eyes were open. He knew she wasn't deaf either. There was the possibility that she was mad at him because of what had happened earlier, but it wasn't anything that bad. "Hey. If you're mad at me because of earlier, that's fine, but you'll have to talk to me eventually. You need to participate in differentials, and well, nobody can be silent forever." House said, but got no response from Robertson. "Robertson." He muttered. He got no response so he said it louder. Eventually he got annoyed because she wasn't answering him and he tapped her on her shoulder. Robertson jumped and gave a gasp before settling down once she realized that it was only House.

"S-sorry." Robertson muttered quietly. "What was that?" She wished she was paying attention but she was thinking, and when she was lost in thought she didn't pay attention to what was around her which got people angry at her because they think she's ignoring them. She watched House as he raised an eyebrow, a curious look coming onto his face. Why was he curious about her thinking about things, or as he probably saw it, not paying attention to a damn thing he said. She brushed a strand of hair out of her eyes and sat up a bit straighter in the chair.

House noticed that Robertson seemed sad as she spoke, and somehow knew that she wasn't ignoring him but just thinking. What could she possibly be thinking about that made her feel this way? Perhaps this is a missing piece of the puzzle. Now he had to figure out where it went while still missing a lot of the pieces. He turned to leave, exiting as quickly as he came, leaving Robertson in something similar to a daze.

"House! What was it that you wanted to tell me?" Robertson called as the door swung shut. Apparently she'd never know what it was that he needed to tell her. She gave a sigh and went back to staring at the table once more…

--

House walked down the familiar hallways of the hospital towards Cuddy's office. He knew that she'd be there and he'd probably be interrupting something, but he didn't mind at all. He opened the doors to her office quickly and stepped in. "Cuddy!" He called out, ignoring the man that was sitting in front of the desk. The two of them were in the middle of discussing one thing or another. Cuddy placed down the pen that she was holding and silenced herself so House wouldn't know everything she and the man were talking about and torment her about it later.

"House is this important?" Cuddy asked and looked up at him, remaining seated at her desk. "If not, can you come back about a half hour from now? I should be finished by then."

"That all depends on what you find important." House said, hobbling further into the room. "What I find important and you find important could be two different things entirely." He heard Cuddy exhale and chose that time to go on with what he is saying. "Why would I be here if it wasn't anything important?"

"Oh I don't know, to annoy me maybe?" Cuddy asked, wondering what could be so important that he had to interrupt her when she was with somebody. Then again, House had interrupted her plenty of times before so what made this time any different? She waited for him to continue with what he was saying.

"Now would I ever do that?" House asked sarcastically. Cuddy just gave a nod but didn't reply.

"Are you going to say what you wanted to or stand here? Maybe you want me to beg for it?" Cuddy asked.

"Well I'd like you to beg but not here." House said, a smirk forming on his face. "Tonight would work."

Cuddy rolled her eyes. "That's not what I meant House." She said with a nod. "Apparently standing there won't work either because that would begin to hurt after a while." She motioned to the leg. "So either leave or tell me what you want to."

"Tell me what you know about Robertson." House said.

**AUTHOR: Sorry if this is kind of short, but I wanted to leave my adoring fans with a cliffhanger.**


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

**AUTHOR: Aw come on. Only 7 reviews? It was my birthday! Please review! **

--

"We can reschedule." The man who was talking to Cuddy said. She watched as he stood up and slowly exited. He gave a friendly nod to House as he did so, and House didn't return the gesture. He continued to stare at Cuddy, waiting for her to give an answer. He was focused only on her and nothing else in the room. The look showing on his blue eyes told her that he was serious. What could he want to know though?

"Anything you need to know is in her file. I'd suggest reading it." Cuddy said with a nod. "I don't know anything about her personal life. You'd have to ask her about that, and I highly doubt she'd tell you a whole lot without a pretty good reason." House's stare didn't become any less intense, so she knew that he thought she knew more than she was letting on.

"You're lying. I know you know her from somewhere. The way you looked at her that night when she came to your house showed that you know her from somewhere and that you liked her at one point but not anymore. Seeing you know her, you'd know a thing or two about her past. Anything happen in it that would upset her?" House asked, knowing that Cuddy would insist that she knew nothing so she wouldn't have to share Robertson's past because then she'd be getting involved in somebody else's personal life and apparently that was wrong.

"Even if I knew her it doesn't mean I know something about her past. You've made her into a puzzle and you're going to solve it by yourself." Cuddy said with a nod as she stood up, wondering if House would find out the information that would be needed to solve his puzzle. Even though she really did know quite a bit about her, she wasn't going to share it with him. "Now you have clinic duty and I have a meeting to go to, so neither one of us has time to talk." As she said this she was grabbing everything she needed for the meeting off of her desk. House just stared at her as she maneuvered around him and exited, leaving him to stand in her office alone, knowing that Cuddy knew more than she was letting on, but he'd have to find out what it was himself, seeing Cuddy wouldn't help him out. This puzzle was getting more difficult, but he knew eventually it would be solved and when it was he'd be proud of himself.

--

"Robertson, go to the clinic. I haven't been there today and if I don't go, Cuddy will give me more." House said as he hobbled into his office and the door closed behind him. He noticed the woman looked startled because she wasn't really expecting to hear his voice.

"Procrastination only prolongs the agony." Robertson quickly responded but she knew that House would have some witty comment against that and she'd end up losing and having to go down to the clinic to deal with little kids with runny noses or some woman who was afraid because she had a nosebleed after sneezing, which never happened to them in their life, and then the woman would say she saved the tissue and ask if that amount of blood was normal. However, something about the clinic really interested her, probably because usually nobody there had cases that required a differential with a doctor who always threw out rude comments and seemed to do anything to make his fellows seem miserable, insulting and prying into your life when you obviously hated him doing so but there was no way to stop him without getting fired.

"But I can save all the torture by having you go down there to do it instead. The clinic hours are still getting done either way." House said, and that showed that Robertson's prediction was correct. She wasn't going to get out of doing it. House gave a small smirk and waited for her to stand and walk out the door in the direction of the worst place in the entire hospital, the clinic. Part of him expected her to stay though, seeing she was so stubborn, but he realized that part of her seemed to be breaking and she was changing into somebody depressed, as if suffering from a lost, not an annoying perfectionist like she was when she first got here. What had caused her to change anyway? He knew it wasn't him that did it. House gave a small sigh and looked to the door. "You know, Cuddy isn't going to be happy if we sit around here all day and don't get the clinic hours done…" He was silent after that, waiting to see how she'd react, but nothing happened.

Robertson slowly stood up and walked to the door without another word which she knew was probably leaving House shocked or something, but she already knew that she was one of his damn puzzles and she didn't care. He was carefully studying everything she did, trying to find some sort of deeper meaning, but he'd never fit all the pieces unless she told him, or somebody else told him after finding out about it but that wouldn't happen. Only one person besides the members of her family knew about it and she wouldn't tell anybody, especially somebody who wanted to figure everybody out like House did. The woman opened the door and stepped out into the rest of the hospital to see doctors and nurses walking by like usual. Apparently nothing would ever change about this hospital and order would always be maintained, at least as long as Cuddy was the Dean of Medicine. No more thoughts entered the woman's mind as she silently made her way to the clinic for House, and the only sound that entered the hallway was her heels clicking against the floor and bouncing around in the nearly deserted area. The only people there were silence.

It was this type of silence that Robertson had always loved, especially after she got the bad news, terrible actually, the news that changed her, but why did it? Even she didn't know the answer to that question. This silence always provided some time to think about what was happening in somebody's life, whether what was happening was terrific or tragic. However, when sleeping, the woman needed some noise to distract her from all her thoughts or she'd lie there all night while staring up at the ceiling of her bedroom trying to collect all the thoughts that were running through her mind, however they'd never be put at ease, not now that the bad news was given to her, the news that nobody wanted to hear. Robertson gave a small sigh when thinking about bad news and shook her head as if that would help clear every horrible thought from her mind, but it didn't work so well. So, she attempted to only focus on the clicking of her heels on the floor, but for once using noise as a distraction didn't help her. It usually did, but why didn't it now? There was only one other time where noise didn't distract her from her problems, and that was when she first got the news that made her this upset in the first place. She'd sat at her window right after getting it, listening to the cars that were going by with the occasional car horn, dog bark, cat meow, or two people having a conversation right near her window where she could only pick up the voices and not the words that they were saying. She even focused on the wind that was blowing through the trees, making the leaves rustle, and none of that, combined with the television on, volume turned up high, didn't even help her to block out the thoughts, but they were extremely depressing. They still depressed her to think about them, but now she wouldn't cry, would she?

There was no time to think about what was making her this upset now. She'd have to do it later, when she was at home or something. Robertson had just arrived in the clinic and there's no way she could act depressed when she had things to do, patients with barely anything wrong with them to cure. Only sometimes did it end up being anything serious and that was when she ended up having to do a differential with House which she found interesting, but hated the fact that he always had to use comments about his fellows and sometimes the patient. The woman gave a small sigh and walked over to where any doctors had to check in. "Dr. House, signing in…" She muttered unenthusiastically, expecting a response from the nurse saying that she wasn't Dr. House, the man who usually didn't go do his clinic hours. Of course, Robertson never did his hours before so she didn't know that it was a common thing to have his fellows go do his hours for him.

"You've never done his hours before, why start now?" The nurse couldn't help but comment. She knew that the doctor was part of his team now, but she'd never really seen her around in the clinic before now, working for him anyway, but now she actually was. That made her only slightly curious, but enough to ask why she was finally changing her mind about doing it, and whether he said he was beginning to comment about her or she just decided to actually do it for him for once was actually pretty interesting to her.

"I just decided to do them for once, seeing I know that he never will get around to it and will end up having Cuddy on his case." Robertson lied and gave a small shrug and forced smile as she grabbed a file and read the name, not really paying as close attention as she should have to the name that was written on it. If she had taken the time to read the name closely, she would've immediately placed the file back down and grabbed another, but she sadly didn't pay as close attention, or watch the woman enter the room. Robertson gave another small sigh and took one last glance at the nurse before walking to room 1, the one that she had asked the patient to enter for her examination. Something made her want to put the file back down or give it to another doctor quickly, but she didn't, and later she'd regret that. The only thing she did before entering the room and shutting the door was grip the file tighter in her hand, having this feeling that something was going to go horribly wrong.

Robertson read the file, looking everything over once more, trying to see how much information she could gather before she did anything with the patient. There was yet another silence in the room, but this one didn't seem as peaceful and comforting like any of the others had. Oddly this one made her nervous, seeing she didn't have a clue as to what was going on or what she was about to find out. "I'm Dr. Robertson…" She said quietly, knowing that one of the best things to do would be to introduce yourself, seeing it would be better off if a patient knew who you were. However, Robertson wasn't expecting what she would hear next.

"I know." The woman said in a voice Robertson immediately recognized, one she thought she'd never hear again. That immediately made her heart beat faster and the depressed thoughts came back. The woman immediately closed the file and looked up to reveal…

**AUTHOR: I LEFT YOU AT A CLIFFHANGER! You've got to love those things. So, who did Robertson see? Find out, in the next chapter! Also, thank you cryingblacktears for helping me get out of writer's block. Another thing, sorry for not replying for so long. It was a combination of writer's block and distractions... Thanks!**


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The woman that was sitting on the exam table before Robertson looked extremely ill, but that wasn't what made Robertson feel extremely upset. The woman already knew one of the diseases that the other woman had, and it was lung cancer, stage 4 to be exact, but there had to be something else that was ailing the young woman or else she wouldn't be sitting here in exam room 1 of the clinic. Her hands began to tremble so she clutched the file even tighter as if it would help it not show. Robertson stared at the other woman for a while longer. It was obvious that she knew her from somewhere. They both shared the same bright green eyes and some of the facial features. It was clear that if she wasn't ill, this woman would have the same rosy cheeks as well. The hair on the head of this woman was just starting to fall out but it was a beautiful shade of dark brown. These two were related, sisters actually, ones that hadn't seen each other in a long time. Regret and sadness flashed through Robertson's eyes and eventually she found her voice inside her and was able to whisper the name of her younger sister. "Chloe?" Her voice was shaky and she really didn't know why she asked the name of the woman when she already knew it, had it running in her head every day ever since she found out the news that her sister was dying. Robertson waited for Chloe to say anything, no matter what that was, something that she could respond to. They had a lot of catching up to do after all this time but something made her not say a word, and she was afraid to ask how her sister was doing anyway. When somebody had cancer, those words could probably hurt them, especially if they were supposed to pass away soon. However, Robertson had heard that her doctors were trying to treat her anyway, but was that giving her false hope? Robertson knew that there was barely a chance that Chloe would live after having stage 4 cancer. That was the final stage and that meant that there was a less chance of survival than if it was in one of the beginning stages. While her sister might have some hope of surviving, Robertson had none. She hadn't watched anybody die of cancer or anything but when somebody was at the final stage of something it was likely that they were going to die.

"Vanessa." Chloe said simply, though her voice wasn't filled with sadness. In fact, even though she had cancer and was extremely ill from it, she was extremely cheerful and there was a smile on her face, showing teeth that had been cared for, no fillings or missing teeth. Her eyes shone, and it didn't seem like she was in any pain or anything, as if she could care less that she was to die soon. While a lot of people would be depressed about it, Chloe was different, wanting to live life to the fullest and she accepted that it was her time to go. "It's kind of funny that you're my doctor." The only response she got to that was a small nod and a forced smile. "You're probably wondering why I'm here, huh?" Again she only got a small nod. The smile on Chloe's face became a bit smaller, but it was still there.

Robertson tried her best to give a smile to Chloe, but every attempt she made failed, seeing there was no way she could be cheerful when she knew that her sister was going to die soon. She felt guilty that she never spent more time with her when she really should've. There was a lot of her sister's life that she'd missed and now she regretted it more than ever. She could've at least called her or something to know how everything was doing, but no. She was too wrapped up in work and everything else that didn't matter more than family.

"As I'm pretty sure you know, my cancer's getting worse even though they're trying everything to treat me, in the other hospital of course." Chloe said with a small nod. She lived half an hour away so she went to a hospital in her city, until now, which made Robertson wonder why she was here in this hospital instead of talking to one of her own doctors about this. However, she didn't dare ask. "I didn't know where the oncology department was and obviously wasn't going to ask around to find out…" That was just like Chloe, hating to ask for directions, wanting to be as independent as possible, so she usually never asked for help with something either. "I need a new doctor. Mine isn't working out for me. Who do you think would be the best?"

"I'll have to talk to the head of oncology to find that out, and would get back to you on it right away." Robertson said with a small nod and Chloe immediately began to slide off the examination table, knowing that she would get back as soon as possible, or have her new doctor do so.

"Thank you." Chloe said in a whisper and immediately walked over to her sister, reluctant to leave, seeing they had just talked to each other for the first time in quite some time.

Before Chloe knew what was happening, she had gotten a small hug and Robertson had announced that she loved her. There was no doubt, they always had, seeing they were pretty close, more like best friends than sisters, seeing sisters usually always argued. After that they said their goodbyes and Chloe left, leaving Robertson to stand in the exam room alone, seeing she didn't really want to move right away, seeing she had a lot more to think about. So, her little sister was looking for another oncologist. Hopefully when she talked to Wilson, he'd become her doctor, seeing he was one of the best out there.

Robertson gave a small sigh as she stood where she was, feeling glad that Chloe closed the door behind her when she exited because she was fighting back the tears that were stinging her eyes, willing them not to fall down her cheeks. She'd kept strong about her sister's cancer for a long time, built some sort of a wall, and now that wall was beginning to break until it fell. All her attempts to stop the tears failed and she cried for the first time in a few years. She hadn't been changed until when she got the call about Chloe, far from a year ago, but she never liked to cry and usually never shed a single tear about everything. Before Robertson knew it, there were tears falling down her cheeks, making them sticky and wet. She hated when they were like this because she knew that until she washes your face everybody would know that she was crying. She never wanted to seem weak. Now it would be noticeable, seeing she wasn't going to even think about making her way to the restroom until she talked to Wilson about being Chloe's oncologist. She had to make sure everything was going to be alright (or as much as it possibly could when she was still going to die.) with her sister. In fact, she only cared a little bit about the crying. Why should she care what everybody else thought of it anyway? Robertson slid to the floor, leaning against the wall, just thinking for a few moments, allowing the tears to fall.

After collecting her thoughts and making sure she wouldn't begin to sob once she exited the room, Robertson wiped her cheeks to make them seem less wet and pulled herself to her feet, straightening out her skirt before opening the door and walking out, back to the nurse who checked her in. "House can do his own damn clinic duty, I'm checking out now." She said quickly and quietly and with that she was out of the clinic, not wanting to waste any time in the clinic before she talked to Wilson. Some things were just more important than doing everything House said, and this was one of them. She'd take any punishment he threw at her. She wouldn't care, even if it meant losing her job.

Robertson walked quickly through the halls, her footsteps echoing in her ears, but for once she ignored it and didn't try to listen to every step of her foot hitting the ground because there was something more important to worry about. That was when she made it to Wilson's door which she almost opened without knocking. When she went to knock she froze up. She hadn't told anybody what was wrong with her sister but now she'd have to give it away. Chloe was dying and there was nothing anybody could really do about it. She would die. Robertson made a silent vow to her sister that she'd be there for her through it all, not wanting to abandon her like she did years ago. Part of her didn't want to knock on his door at all. She could easily walk away right now and go to the cafeteria or something, anywhere back to that damn clinic. There was no way she'd go back there today and maybe not even tomorrow. She could do a bit extra some other time and House's hours could wait and he couldn't make her go back down there and do them no matter how hard he tried to make her. Immediately after thinking of leaving she decided against doing that, seeing Chloe wanted her to make sure she got a better doctor and there was no way she'd let her down. Robertson gave a sigh, staring at the door for another moment in silence, looking at each letter of the James Wilson that was on it in golden letters. _Come on, knock on it already! You can do it! What are you waiting for? By the time you knock Chloe will be gone! _Robertson was thinking this as her heart pounded in her ears. Why was she acting this way anyway? It was foolish to be afraid of knocking on the door and waiting to be told if she could enter or not. It wasn't as if Wilson would bite or anything. Well, there was always the possibility that he would but it was highly unlikely, seeing he was a nice man, somebody who wasn't a cannibal, at least Robertson thought that he wasn't. However, she continued to stare at it as if it was some interesting invention she'd never seen before. Even though she hadn't ever been in his office before, seeing there was no reason for her to be, she'd passed by this way many times and knew that this was a door that could be opened and closed to allow entrance into a room like any other, and there wasn't any special design or object on it that would make life any easier. Any doctor that was passing would think that she's crazy for just standing out there and looking at a door, but every thought that was muddled inside her brain wasn't allowing her to go in. Finally, she knocked. "Come in." Came a call from inside, Wilson's voice. So, Robertson slowly opened the door and entered.

"Hello Dr. Robertson, what can I do for you?" Wilson asked and leaned foreword in his chair to look at the woman that had just entered her office. He noticed something about her, that she was acting extremely depressed and nervous, as if something had just went terribly wrong, but was it with a patient or a catastrophe in the clinic, something that would make her feel this way. But, as Wilson looked closer, he noticed another emotion that Robertson was attempting to hide. Was that guilt that was shining in her eyes? What had happened? It had to be something extremely serious, but why come to him, unless it had something to do with a cancer patient, but why would she feel so guilty and depressed about telling him about a cancer patient? Wilson was curious, but he tried not to show it in his face as he waited for Robertson to say something, anything about what was going on. There was more silence that seemed to press on him because he was waiting for an answer. Was she going to stand there all day and not tell him what was wrong that was making her so upset, or was she actually going to say something eventually, preferably before an hour from now, seeing that was when he had a patient coming in, seeing he was undergoing his chemotherapy. "Are you alright?" Wilson asked quietly, deciding that she might answer that to start with. All he got in reply was a small shrug. That wasn't really good. But she probably wasn't alright but didn't want to admit it. Even if she had said that she was fine the look on her face would show that she was lying. Wilson gave a small sigh as he waited for Robertson to say something, refraining from tapping his fingers against his desk as he did so. The man continued to look into Robertson's eyes, waiting for her to tell him what was wrong. Whatever it was must be something serious if it was leaving her at a loss for words.

Wilson looked Robertson up and down, attempting to get at least a small amount of information by looking at her features. She was tense, that was for sure, and her hands were clasped in front of her but it was still clear that they were trembling, but probably not from worry, cold, or anger. "You seem tense." Wilson muttered, not expecting a response from her. This time he didn't even get a shrug or nod from her. What was troubling this woman so much that she wasn't being her usual self? One thing was clear to him, and that was that Robertson wasn't used to talking about what was making her upset. That was shown by the loss of the ability to speak about it. A person should always be able to talk about what was bothering them but it looked like Robertson never wanted to talk or never was able to. Wilson stared down at his desk for a moment as well as everything on it, eyes resting on the gifts that were given to him by the younger cancer patients. After a moment of staring at the small knickknacks that were placed with care on his desk (including the ones that House threw away, seeing he wouldn't just leave them there sitting in the trash) he looked back up at Robertson, who was now looking down at the ground. Wilson stood up slowly, and took one last glance at his desk before walking over to Robertson, motioning for her to sit in one of the chairs that were placed directly in front of the desk, the ones that the cancer patients usually used. The woman slowly walked to the chair and sat down, but Wilson stayed where he was for a moment longer, staring down at Robertson before slowly sitting himself back down on the rolling chair so he was sitting in front of her. Wilson leaned into the desk and placed his hands on it, looking into Robertson's eyes once more, attempting to wait patiently for her to say something. Only a few moments had passed but to both Wilson and Robertson it seemed like an eternity.

Wilson gave a small sigh and finally decided to say something, thinking that it might make Robertson want to respond. "So, do you want to tell me what happened now?" He asked quietly.

"Yes." Robertson replied, her voice in a whisper.

--

Cuddy stared down at the paperwork that was on her desk and couldn't help but wonder where Robertson was, seeing she hadn't complained about a single thing today or even stopped in to speak about anything. However, that wasn't the only thing that was bothering her. Something else was, and it really shouldn't be, but yet there was something running around in her mind anyway. How did House know that she knew about Robertson, but more importantly, how did he know? How did he know that they knew each other before? How did he know that they were friends? It shouldn't really surprise her, seeing he was House, but yet it did. She never even said a word to him about it but yet he still knew that she knew a lot. Of course Cuddy knew that there was something wrong with her sister seeing Robertson only really was this upset when somebody in her family was ill. Her mother died when both children were young, cancer, the father when they were a bit older because he got into a car accident. That was what changed her, just a little bit, but now her attitude was even worse, probably because of her sister. Cuddy didn't even know why Robertson confided in her in this anyway. Then again, Cuddy knew Robertson for a while, seeing Robertson was a friend of Cuddy's family. Even though there was an age difference they still got along great. But now there was something wrong and she could tell and was actually slightly concerned about what that might be.

Cuddy finally placed down her pen, realizing that she wouldn't get anything done for a while. Her mind was still focusing on how House knew so much and wondering what was wrong with Robertson. Apparently the other woman could stress her without even doing anything. Cuddy was wondering about Robertson which would mean she probably wouldn't get any work done which would mean having extra work to do later on. That really wasn't good. That was when House came in and walked up to the desk and looked down, getting a nice view of what was down her shirt as well as the unfinished paper that was on her desk.

"Cuddy, you're thinking about something and it's causing you not to finish your work, which is odd for you. But what are you thinking about, the fact that I was right?" House asked, and Cuddy's eyes widened. How did he know all of this?

**AUTHOR: Hey! Please review. I love them. Also, did you like that Cuddy knew Robertson, and the fact that House knows more than he should? I would like to know your opinion but only can if you REVIEW.**


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